diff --git a/pyxform/constants.py b/pyxform/constants.py
index 7ee3befc..73c0ed65 100644
--- a/pyxform/constants.py
+++ b/pyxform/constants.py
@@ -110,8 +110,9 @@
 CURRENT_XFORMS_VERSION = "1.0.0"
 
 # The ODK entities spec version that generated forms comply to
-CURRENT_ENTITIES_VERSION = "2022.1.0"
-ENTITY_RELATED = "entity_related"
+ENTITIES_CREATE_VERSION = "2022.1.0"
+CURRENT_ENTITIES_VERSION = "2023.1.0"
+ENTITY_FEATURES = "entity_features"
 ENTITIES_RESERVED_PREFIX = "__"
 
 DEPRECATED_DEVICE_ID_METADATA_FIELDS = ["subscriberid", "simserial"]
diff --git a/pyxform/survey.py b/pyxform/survey.py
index e708ad67..242fbceb 100644
--- a/pyxform/survey.py
+++ b/pyxform/survey.py
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ class Survey(Section):
             "style": str,
             "attribute": dict,
             "namespaces": str,
-            constants.ENTITY_RELATED: str,
+            constants.ENTITY_FEATURES: list,
         }
     )  # yapf: disable
 
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ def _validate_uniqueness_of_section_names(self):
     def get_nsmap(self):
         """Add additional namespaces"""
         namespaces = getattr(self, constants.NAMESPACES, "")
-        if getattr(self, constants.ENTITY_RELATED, "false") == "true":
+        if len(getattr(self, constants.ENTITY_FEATURES, [])) > 0:
             namespaces += " entities=http://www.opendatakit.org/xforms/entities"
 
         if namespaces and isinstance(namespaces, str):
@@ -564,8 +564,17 @@ def xml_model(self):
         self._add_empty_translations()
 
         model_kwargs = {"odk:xforms-version": constants.CURRENT_XFORMS_VERSION}
-        if getattr(self, constants.ENTITY_RELATED, "false") == "true":
-            model_kwargs["entities:entities-version"] = constants.CURRENT_ENTITIES_VERSION
+
+        entity_features = getattr(self, constants.ENTITY_FEATURES, [])
+        if len(entity_features) > 0:
+            if "update" in entity_features:
+                model_kwargs[
+                    "entities:entities-version"
+                ] = constants.CURRENT_ENTITIES_VERSION
+            else:
+                model_kwargs[
+                    "entities:entities-version"
+                ] = constants.ENTITIES_CREATE_VERSION
 
         model_children = []
         if self._translations:
diff --git a/pyxform/xls2json.py b/pyxform/xls2json.py
index dbcb5d14..e1fe6cae 100644
--- a/pyxform/xls2json.py
+++ b/pyxform/xls2json.py
@@ -1482,7 +1482,11 @@ def workbook_to_json(
         )
 
     if len(entity_declaration) > 0:
-        json_dict[constants.ENTITY_RELATED] = "true"
+        json_dict[constants.ENTITY_FEATURES] = ["create"]
+
+        if entity_declaration.get("parameters", {}).get("entity_id", None):
+            json_dict[constants.ENTITY_FEATURES].append("update")
+
         meta_children.append(entity_declaration)
 
     if len(meta_children) > 0:
diff --git a/tests/test_entities_update.py b/tests/test_entities_update.py
index 4f58a147..4486f163 100644
--- a/tests/test_entities_update.py
+++ b/tests/test_entities_update.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ def test_basic_entity_update_building_blocks(self):
                 '/h:html/h:head/x:model/x:bind[@nodeset = "/data/meta/entity/@id" and @type = "string" and @readonly = "true()" and @calculate = " /data/id "]',
                 '/h:html/h:head/x:model/x:instance/x:data/x:meta/x:entity[@baseVersion = ""]',
                 '/h:html/h:head/x:model/x:bind[@nodeset = "/data/meta/entity/@baseVersion" and @type = "string" and @readonly = "true()" and @calculate = "instance(\'trees\')/root/item[name= /data/id ]/__version"]',
-                '/h:html/h:head/x:model[@entities:entities-version = "2022.1.0"]',
+                '/h:html/h:head/x:model[@entities:entities-version = "2023.1.0"]',
             ],
             xml__xpath_count=[
                 ("/h:html/h:head/x:model/x:instance/x:data/x:meta/x:entity/x:label", 0),